Proper assurance of salvation
Read Psalm 131 (only 3 verses!)
1) v1: What could it mean to have hearts ‘lifted up’ and/or ‘eyes raised too high’? And what spared the writer from falling into that trap? cf Ps 130:1; 2Cor 12:9-11
- Is v1 simply a natural insight how to remain content, a folk wisdom captured in a proverb?
- Hint: Is any Song of Ascents interested in ‘natural’ wisdom? Ps 120:1
- If not, what else does v1 tell believers regarding their faith?
- ‘I do not go about (things) too great and too marvelous (for me)’: What could be ‘too great’ in the realm of spirituality?
- Hint: Can you think of characters in the Bible who were spiritually ‘occupied with (such) things too great’? cf Gen 4:5; Lk 16:14-15; 18:18-23
- (cf Acts 15:10-11; 1Tim 1:7 => self-justification:
2) Why does the writer begin this song with an assertion that he is not guilty of such trespassing? cf 2Cor 13:4-6
- How could the psalmist have such a clear conscience?
- Why tell God and other worshipers about it?
3) v2: Why did the writer compare himself to a ‘weaned child’?
- Some people are more calm or at peace than others by a natural disposition, or because their life circumstances are less stressful. How likely do you think it is that David who is named as author of this psalm was like that?
- How else did the writer calm his soul like a ‘weaned child’?
- Is the metaphor one of a toddler who no longer cries for milk every few hours?
- Or is it about the lasting confidence instilled by breast feeding during the first year of life before weaning?
- Why is such confidence a proper metaphor for assurance of salvation? cf Heb 5:9-13
- On what basis can believers be assured of their salvation? (God’s promise and his oath are two immutable things, Heb 6:17-18)
- Why did e.g. the young ruler in Lk 18:18 lack such certainty about whether he was saved?
4) v3: What does ‘hope in the Lord forevermore’ mean in this context?
- Hope for what exactly? cf 1Pet 1:21 =>
- Why does assurance of salvation depend on how you hope or expect to become sanctified?
- In the spiritual realm, do you think certainty of salvation amounts to boastful conceit? Why or why not? cf 1Cor 1:30-31
- If assurance of salvation is a normal Christian experience, what might hinder some to enjoy it? cf v1
- While salvation by faith in Jesus is immutable and eternal, our assurance of it is not: It thrives in Christians when they live on the solid food of the word of God, but it suffers when their conscience is bruised and sin dulls their hearing. What can you do to invigorate your own hope in the Lord and that of fellow Christians?
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